DHAKA: The European Union said on Monday it would monitor all of Egypt’s presidential election, reversing a decision to scale back its operations after authorities agreed to release a load of impounded equipment.

The bloc had said two days earlier that its officials would only be able to watch voting in the capital as vital communications and medical gear was being held up in the airport.

‘We are going to be spread all over the country,’ EU Chief Observer Mario David told reporters on Monday, reports The Straits Times.

Former army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who deposed elected Islamist president Mohamed Mursi last July following mass protests, is widely expected to win the presidency.

BDST: 2109 HRS, MAY 19, 2014